Tuesday, April 26, 2011

KAJ Foundation Fund Raiser

I'm finally sitting down to blog about our KAJ Foundation Fundraiser. This event has been in the works for almost 2 years. For so long it just seemed like some thing in the distant future that we talked about. It was an awesome series of events that brought us the venue, the entertainment, and all of the people that helped make it happen!

We had it at Enoch's Stomp a very cool winery outside of Longview. All of our "Gold Level" sponsors were displayed on the drive up.

Here are Kory and Patrick putting the signs out Saturday morning.

Patrick's Mom made this adorable candy table and these KAJ Foundation seed packets

I took a few pics of the beautiful property. It was gorgeous and the weather was amazing. All day Friday when we were trying to work the wind was blowing 40 mph. Then Saturday it slowed down and stopped by late afternoon in time for the PERFECT weather for the event! Such a blessing from GOD!

Kory and Patrick doing something productive I'm sure

These 2 ladies are AMAZING!! Shelley Krupa and Teresa Knight have a decorating business called The Cozy Perch. They donated their services for decorating and our friend Liz Gibson from church was also a tireless worker and awesome decorator!!! They did an incredible job!!! They posted lots of great pictures on their blog, so go check it out and see their great pictures! http://wwwthecozyperch.blogspot.com

Our table

I can not say enough great things about our volunteers. Here they are under their Volunteers tent (which they spent very little time in because they worked so hard!!!) Seriously, they were AWESOME. Most of them are nurses from the NICU and the rest are some of the ladies that work at Patrick's office. We had a few friends from church that coordinated the parking and Natalie was mine and Holly's right hand gal and Rand was our volunteer BOSS. They were awesome. They worked so hard serving, cleaning, checking people in, and when the concert was over, they had that place cleaned up in NO TIME! I know for a fact we could NOT have done it without them!!

Ok, so you wanna know what we did for entertainment? We had a private Five For Fighting concert!! If you think you don't know him, look up 100 years or Superman on itunes and you'll recognize him. He was AWESOME. He was a great entertainer, funny, and the music was incredible. Here he is doing his sound check. We all got goose bumps when he did the sound check...that's how good he was. He's one of those guys that sounds just as good live as they do recorded.

I did a horrible job taking pictures but here are a few of the decorations. They weren't completely done yet, but oh well.....I was a little.....uh....BUSY!

The majority of the night everyone was outside but there was food in the Lodge so the girls decorated a beautiful table for the food! The food was great...

Here we are with John (aka Five for Fighting...its not a band...just a guy with a band name. he told us the story behind it, basically he had to come up with a name that wasn't just his own name. He was watching a hockey game and there was a fight....you get 5 minutes in the penalty box for fighting.....there ya go. Five For Fighting!) That is his daughter in the picture with us. She sang with him on one song and sang her own song too. She was great and a really spunky thing!

Before the concert started, we introduced ourselves and Patrick gave a little speech about our Foundation and how it came about. It was a little emotional, so don't look too close at the pics or you might see tears.

Right at sunset, the concert started and it was AWESOME. We actually got to sit down and enjoy it (I felt like we hadn't sat down for 2 days straight!)!

I didn't think about videoing with my phone until the concert was almost over, but here are a couple of clips. This is a song he dedicated to Jayde. I caught the very end on video.

This was the last song he sang and probably one of his most popular ones. Enjoy!

He was a great entertainer and so generous to do this concert for us. If you like the songs, go buy them on itunes. Maybe he gets a few cents out of that! :)

The event was a huge success. There were close to 300 people there and seriously, nothing went wrong!! We couldn't believe it. In a way it makes us never want to do it again because SOMETHING will HAVE to go wrong!! When it was all said and done we raised $52,000!!!!! Not bad for 4 rookie event planners/fund raisers!!!! In all seriousness, we really feel like things were laid before us that totally made this thing happen. From the money for sponsorships, to people offering services and items we needed, ticket sales, volunteers, weather, FUN, all of it! We feel like GOD blessed this night and this event and we are so thankful! We are excited to see where we are headed with this Foundation (so are the Neonatologists!!).

This is the greatest. Tears have rolled down my face--sweet tears because you considered it joy to face the trials that you have faced. The NICU in Longview will be forever blessed through this foundation. OUTSTANDING!! Love you.

Jaymie, I have been following your blog since Kanyon and Jayde were born and have so admired your strength, courage and dedication to your babies. I am in awe of the works God is performing through you and can't wait to see His plan for this beautiful foundation.

I work in a Level III NICU in Houston and have been following your blog for quite some time. The foundation is such a wonderful thing you are doing. I want to add that I was quite impressed to know that you had Five for Fighting at the event--I love him. Good luck with your foundation. We all know it wasn't just luck that created the beautiful weather.

I work at Good Shepherd in LAbor and Delivery and the NICU nurses could not stop talking about this amazing event and the wonderful advocates you all at KAJ are for them. Your support means more than words could do justice. THANK YOU from all of us here at Good Shepherd and more importantly- all the East Texas babies you help!